[clug] Home Firewall dedicated OS

[Robert Edwards]

Ian McLeod wrote:
> Seems a better solution to set up home VPN is to bridge the modem to a 
> dedicated OS..  Is this a *viable* option in terms of investment in time 
> and maintenance required for the average small home network?  And secure 
> enough compared to a hardware firewall and NAT (modem)?
> 
> Seems there is SmoothWall and ClarkConnect free editions and something 
> called Devil Linux..
> 
> Any experience with these things?  Not concerned with philosophical 
> implications of a commercial company vs puritan GPL or whatever, just 
> something that is free and works well and is relatively easy to set up.

I use a Debian (stable) system as my home "firewall" etc. (also runs
squid etc.). Just a matter of configuring iptables the way you want.

Note that almost all "hardware firewall and NAT (modem)" solutions are
just packaged mini Linux boxes (usually using an ARM or MIPS CPU).

My new home firewall/NAT router/Wireless AP/squid/web-server/file-server
etc. is a $440 Kogan Agora Netbook Pro (2GB RAM, 160GBHDD, v. low
power). Will have it running off solar and batteries by end of year...

Cheers,

Bob Edwards.